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Another Six Return

by Hondo••16

DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US personnel.

From World War II

F1c Claude O. Gowey, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 21 September 2018.

SK2c Gerald L. Clayton, US Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 26 September 2018.

Mus2c Francis E. Dick, US Navy, assigned to Aviation, Construction, Ordinance, Repair, Navy Fourteen, Standard Landing Craft Unit 4, was lost at Pearl Harbor, HI, on 7 December 1941. He was accounted for on 26 September 2018.

S2c Deward W. Duncan, Jr., US Naval Reserve, assigned to Aviation, Construction, Ordinance, Repair, Navy Fourteen, Standard Landing Craft Unit 4, was lost on Tarawa on 12 January 1944. He was accounted for on 26 September 2018.

PFC Lewis E. Price, US Army, assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, was lost in Germany on 6 November 1944. He was accounted for on 24 September 2018.

From Korea

PVT John W. Martin, US Army, assigned to Medical Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, was lost in North Korea on 2 December 1950. He was accounted for on 25 September 2018.

From Southeast Asia

None

Welcome back, elder brothers-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.

Rest easy. You’re home now.

. . .

Over 72,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,600 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; over 1,500 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA); 126 remain unaccounted for from the Cold War; 5 remain unaccounted for from the Gulf Wars; and 1 individual remains unaccounted for from Operation Eldorado Canyon. Comparison of DNA from recovered remains against DNA from some (but not all) blood relatives can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

On their web site’s “Contact Us” page, DPAA now has FAQs. The answer to one of those FAQs describes who can and cannot submit DNA samples useful in identifying recovered remains. The chart giving the answer can be viewed here. The text associated with the chart is short and can be viewed in DPAA’s FAQs.

If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a DNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.

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16 thoughts on “Another Six Return”

  1. Welcome home brothers. Because of your sacrifice the nation remains strong and in able hands. You have not been forgotten.

  2. Deward D. Duncan, Jr. was 16 when the Japanese attacked Pearl harbor. When the 1940 census counted Deward D. Duncan, Jr. on 18 April 1940, he was 15-years old and living in a house on Stallworth Avenue in Hall county, Georgia, with his Dad, who worked in a cotton mill, his Mom, and three siblings. Deward enlisted in the Navy on 18 February 1943 and, by November of that year, was at war. He was a sailor abroad the USS Pierce (APA-50), an attack transport that carried Sea Bees from one Pacific island to another. Duncan’s unit, ACORN-14, was at bloody Tarawa and, after the fighting, repaired and extended a runway there. He was killed during a bombing attack on the Beito airfield on 12 January 1944 and was buried in a grave lost until it and others were found by History Flight, Inc. Welcome home, Deward. You have not been forgotten.

  3. When Lewis E. Price went to war, he left a wife and son behind. Price was with the 28th Division, a storied unit that fought in some of the toughest combat engagements in WW II. It paid a great price, especially its infantry which comprise 40% of division strength but suffered 90% of the division’s casualties. Price was among that 40% and that 90% and fell while on patrol in the in the infamous Hurtgen Forest. Welcome home.

  6. Welcome Home Warriors. May we never give up the search until all are accounted for. Thanks again, Hondo, 2/17 Air Cav.

  7. F1c Claude O. Gowey

    Navy Fireman 1st Class Claude O. Gowey, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma in World War II, was accounted for on Aug. 31, 2018.

    On Dec. 7, 1941, Gowey was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Gowey.

    https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2011/201/56131733_131130137529.jpg

    SK2c Gerald L. Clayton

    Navy Storekeeper 2nd Class Gerald L. Clayton, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, was accounted for on Sept. 10, 2018

    On Dec. 7, 1941, Clayton was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Clayton.

    https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2011/340/77287962_132330337139.jpg

    Mus2c Francis E. Dick

    Navy Musician 2nd Class Francis E. Dick, killed during the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, was accounted for on Sept. 5, 2018

    On Dec. 7, 1941, Dick was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Dick.

    https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2011/199/56128769_131108409826.jpg

    S2c Deward W. Duncan

    Naval Reserve Seaman 2nd Class Deward W. Duncan, Jr., killed during World War II, was accounted for on May 17, 2018.

    In January 1944, Duncan was assigned to Aviation, Construction, Ordnance, Repair, Navy Fourteen, Standard Landing Craft Unit 4, when a Japanese air raid on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, dropped a bomb near his tent. Duncan was killed January 12, 1944

    https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2016/19/61957087_1453340685.jpg

    PFC Lewis E. Price

    In November, 1944, Price was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, which moved into the Hürtgen Forest in Germany, to relieve U.S. forces who had been fighting for weeks. The fighting in and around the forest was frequently chaotic, and while details surrounding his loss are sparse, he was reported missing in action as of Nov. 6, 1944 when his reconnaissance patrol failed to return from a mission.

    PVT John W. Martin

    Private First Class Martin was a veteran of World War II, serving with the U.S. Marine Corps. In Korea, he was a medic with the Medical Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while tending his wounded comrades at the Changjin Reservoir near Hudong-ni, North Korea on December 2, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953.

    https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2014/53/119083907_1393211299.jpg

    Welcome home, brothers.

  9. Welcome Home, Warriors. I am humbled by your ultimate sacrifice.

    Thanks, Sky, for the background stories. I enjoy the background stories … they give a ‘face’ to the warriors.

    Ditto to 2/17

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